Matson boosts fuel surcharge 4 percentage points to record 47.5%

Matson Navigation Co. is boosting the cost of shipping goods between the mainland and Hawaii for the fourth time this year.

The state's largest ocean shipper said today it will raise the fuel surcharge on June 12 by 4 percentage points to a record 47.5 percent — the highest ever since Matson started imposing the fee in 1999 — from 43.5 percent for its Hawaii service. The hike follows back-to-back 8.5 percentage-point-increases in March and May.

The company said it has sustained near record high fuel prices over the past month and also will raise the surcharge to 49 percent from 45 percent for its Guam/Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Micronesia service the same day.

"Since announcing our last increase on March 31, fuel prices not only failed to stabilize, but continued to rise," said Dave Hoppes, senior vice president, in a statement. "Matson recognizes that energy costs are a major concern for all businesses, as well as consumers. Unfortunately, transportation companies are especially hard hit, with fuel consumption an unavoidable and significant component of operating costs. We are just now beginning to recover some of the extraordinary fuel-related costs that necessitated our last increase."